What did we bring home from CEDIA Expo 2024?

Why did we go to CEDIA Expo 2024?

To see the products we install next to their competitors, and to take the training that keeps our installs current. CEDIA Expo ran in Denver in September 2024 and gathers the manufacturers, distributors and integrators of the residential technology trade in one hall. For a two-person design and install team in Kent, three days there replaces months of reading spec sheets.

Rivas Technology Group has been a CEDIA member from 2022 to 2026 (see about us), and the show is where that membership pays back. That means classes on network design and lighting, conversations with the engineers behind the gear, and the chance to handle a product before it goes into a client's rack.

What did our clients get out of it?

Better product choices and better installs. Three things came home with us.

• Product exposure. The hall shows dozens of routers, amplifiers and power products side by side. Seeing them together is how a product earns or loses a place on our standard list.
• Training. CEDIA runs classes through the show. The ones we took covered network design and lighting control. Those are the two systems every other system in a home depends on.
• Relationships. Direct contacts at the manufacturers we install. They mean a faster answer when a firmware question comes up on a job in Gig Harbor.

Which products stood out?

Three, each for a system we design every week.

Alta Labs Route10 router

Alta Labs makes the access points we install in many homes, and the Route10 is their router. We looked at it as a possible core for networks where the client wants a single-vendor system managed from one cloud dashboard.

For most homes we still start from an Island Router, a wired, subscription-free router built in the United States (Island Router). Alta Labs, Ruckus or Ubiquiti access points are wired to it. The Route10 is a good fit where the client already runs Alta Labs everywhere. Either way, the rule does not change: the router does the routing and wired access points do the Wi-Fi.

Marantz M1 streaming amplifier

A compact amplifier with streaming built in, for a room that needs two good speakers and no rack. The M1 handles a pair of bookshelf or in-wall speakers and streams from the usual services, so a kitchen, office or covered patio gets proper sound without a receiver. It fits into a Control4 system as a source and a zone. It is one of the products we propose when a client wants a single room done well before a whole-home system. Our audio options are on the home theater and audio page.

WattBox double-conversion online UPS

Clean, uninterrupted power for the rack. A double-conversion UPS regenerates the AC that feeds the equipment, so a brownout, a surge or a short outage never reaches the controller, the router or the NVR. In the South Sound, winter wind takes the power out for minutes at a time. A UPS is the difference between a network that rides through the blink and one that reboots with every flicker. We put a WattBox UPS in every rack that carries security or automation, alongside the Ajax hub, which has its own battery and cellular backup (Hub 2 Plus).

What changed in our designs afterward?

Two things: power got a line item on every proposal, and we standardized the access point lines we carry. The UPS conversation used to come up after the first outage; now it is in the design. And having compared the Wi-Fi vendors on the floor, we settled on Alta Labs, Ruckus and Ubiquiti UniFi as the three we install, chosen per building rather than per fashion. The full list is on brands we install. Both changes are visible on the Wi-Fi and networking page.

Need it installed?

Rivas Technology Group designs and installs Control4 smart home, network and audio systems from Kent across south King County and Pierce County, including Tacoma. If you want the products above, or want to know what we would spec instead for your house, book a walk-through.